Trinity II - 1 Jul 1962

Both the Epistle and the Gospel for today are well known. The Parable of the great supper in the Gospel is as true of life today, as it was at the time our Lord spoke it. The guests were invited to a banquet, but they sent their excuses. Various excuses were given. The excuses in the story sound reasonable in themselves. The world certainly needs farms and oxen to provide food and clothing. The world certainly needs homes to provide shelter and love. But a man needs something more than these.

There are two things we must keep in mind in connection with this story.

These men gave excuses for their failure to turn up for the supper. They were only excuses – reasons put forward to escape blame. There is a difference between a reason and an excuse. Reason precedes a conclusion, excuse follows it. The real reason for the guests not accepting the invitation was they had no desire to go to the banquet. They were not keen to humour their host. Don’t we often do the same? Not only do we give excuses to others, but we ourselves begin to believe that the reasons we have put forward are good reasons. Psychology calls it rationalisation. We must constantly watch ourselves lest we fall into this error. ‘I can’t go to church today because I have a cold.’ People often say such things, but the real reason is lack of keenness or laziness which we would not like to admit. In this way we are often found lying to God.

These men were busy about their farm and oxen which would provide them with food and clothing. They were concerned about their home. They are all very necessary for our life. But all these without God coming into them, will not help us in our lives. God must come into our home life. He must inspire us in our work. Otherwise our lives will not be a blessing. The excuses men gave were not wrong in themselves. The wrong consisted in the false sense of values which the men had, finding no time for the things of vital importance. People are preoccupied with business, pleasure, family life and God gets crowded out. When this happens life is bound to be a failure.

Sunday by Sunday some aspect of the Christian life is brought home to us during these Trinity Sundays in our Collects, Epistles and Gospels. Last week, the first Sunday after Trinity, the theme was Christian love. Today we are warned about the dangers of worldliness. So many people become so engulfed in worldliness and become so preoccupied with the affairs of this life, that they have no time for anything concerning God. When we leave God out of our life, then it will be a failure. Instead, we must get as a basis the deep love of which we read in last Sunday’s Epistle, and then in the words of today’s Epistle, ‘love the brethren’. In other words put love into action in our daily life, for that alone is true life.